


The Worst Pity Party

by h00ligan



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive John Winchester, Bad Parent John Winchester, Comfortably Bisexual Dean Winchester, Flashbacks, Homophobic John Winchester, John Winchester Being an Asshole, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Teen Dean Winchester, Trans Dean Winchester, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28886037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h00ligan/pseuds/h00ligan
Summary: Dean's 15, and he doesn't know yet that it's better for his family if he doesn't do parents.
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Original Character(s), Dean Winchester/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	The Worst Pity Party

_1994_

It's another school. Another fresh start, another last name. Dean has been through so many that sometimes he doubts if his last name is really Winchester or if it comes from his father's sick obsession with guns. Sam is starting to realize he's in a permanent state of "new kid", in middle school. Dad takes him shooting sometimes, but he isn't nearly as good at it yet as Dean is. Sometimes Dean even goes on hunts now, but not this time. This time, he's dumped at a small public school.

He started convincing John to put "male" on his school applications years ago. Not that John ever truly paid attention to Dean ever since Mom died. All that matters to Dad is finding whatever killed Mom and making sure Sammy is safe. 

Dean hates finding new schools, because right now, with Dean a sophomore and Sam still in middle school, he can't take care of him like this. But Sam's fine, he tells himself. He has a butterfly knife and iron and silver rings and an amulet for anti-possession that they'll get tattooed on themselves one day, because there's no other way to live their lives ever since Mom died.

Shapeshifters are always the longest hunts, right up there with clearing a vampire nest. John tells Dean it'll be a month, maybe more. It's almost a license to get comfortable, and Sammy, he sighs with relief and sets his computer up on the good desk instead of the floor. 

That's not how Dean gets comfortable.

Dean gets comfortable the same way he convinces himself other 15-year-olds get comfortable. He sees Dad's guy for a fake ID, hustles a little pool, goes to the gas station, buys whatever beer is cheapest and saves the rest for food with Sammy. Shares the six-pack with whoever catches his eye.

In hunts like this, when Dean knows it'll be forever until John gets back, he doesn't limit his purview to women. Dad, he never cared about Dean becoming a man, if anything, he was proud for it. Dean _liking_ boys, however? That had a snowball's chance in Hell of ever going over well.

Jimmy is a junior, he's on the baseball team, he has blue eyes so bright Dean wants to _cry_. No way, no way is someone like this not straight.

Until Jimmy catches Dean watching from behind the bleachers, his usual drinking spot.

"You thinking of trying out, Dean?" Jimmy asks, suddenly beside him.

"You-how do you know my name?" Dean's cheeks flare at the _idea_ that someone like Jimmy, popular, handsome, would even acknowledge Dean.

"You cheat off my biology quizzes."

Whatever protest Dean was forming in his mind dies in his throat when he sees the teasing smile. 

"So, Dean... Williamson, is that right?"

"Win-Williamson, yeah." Suddenly his mouth is dry. "You, don't get me wrong, but you don't exactly look like the type to look for another guy behind the bleachers."

"Well, I kinda have to keep it that way. My parents said that's how you stay safe. You mind?" Jimmy motions towards one of the beers. 

"No, not at all, go ahead. You... told your parents?"

"Yeah. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but, I'm kinda lucky in that way."

A blue car pulled up by the baseball field, and Jimmy cursed under his breath. "That's my ride. I'll see you?"

"I-yeah. After bio?"

Jimmy kissed Dean's cheek, and he was suddenly very aware of the butterflies in his stomach. "It's a date, Mr. Win-Williamson."

* * *

Dean had _never_ seen anyone for three weeks before. It felt weird, ditching biology class and baseball practice to go somewhere nobody would see them, talk about, well, not Dean's life. All Jimmy knew was he had a single dad who fixed vintage cars. They were dissecting a frog, smell of formaldehyde strong in the air, when Jimmy asked, "Do you wanna meet my parents?"

Dean didn't know if his cough was from the shock of the smell. 

"I mean, you don't have to, it's just that I told my parents I've been seeing this _guy_ at school. I told them you're not staying long, but they wanted to meet you."

Suddenly the weight hits him that he's never _met_ parents before. Jimmy... Jimmy actually likes him. "Oh."

Jimmy suddenly realizes he might've done something very wrong. "I mean, if you don't want to, that's totally fine. I can tell them that this is just a temporary thing, and--please tell me this isn't an experimental thing for you?"

"No. God, no, it's not." Dean shakes his head. "I've been like this since Dad showed me _Rebel Without a Cause_ when I was ten. I just... I've never been in one place long enough to meet parents."

"Well, maybe someday you'll stick around with someone long enough for it to happen again." And Jimmy gives that sunshine smile that makes Dean weak at the knees.

"Yeah. I'll meet your parents." Dean barely registers what he's saying. 

"Great! They already have an extra seat set for you at the table for tonight." Jimmy comes from behind around Dean in a hug disguised as just him showing the insides of the stomachs, and Dean's never felt so safe.

* * *

Sammy doesn't know what Dean's doing tonight. It's a special delicacy because last night he won big at the bar-rotisserie chicken and a box of stuffing. It'll definitely at least last Sam the night.

 _Damn it, Dean,_ he curses himself as he looks through his suitcase for something to wear. He's lived his life by John's motto- _Never wear anything you'll miss if it gets monster guts spilled on it_. The collection of flannels and plain tees has served him well, until tonight. He's going to show up to his boyfriend's looking like an absolute _bum._ Not that Dean isn't one. What do you call a high-schooler who lives out of motels and a car? There's one thing, one of Dad's old leather jackets he hasn't worn in years, an intact pair of jeans. He takes his amulet, a series of iron and silver rings. Well, great, he looks like the world's lamest Satanist. But hey, it's better than what he usually wears. 

Right?

Jimmy's mom's car is there to pick him up at 6:00, and there's polite small talk, how are the amenities, how is having Jimmy as a lab partner, stuff like that. 

At 6:15, Dean is sitting beside Jimmy and Dean is looking around nervously. It's a response ingrained in him since he was four. Take note of the exits. Where's the salt. 

"So, Dean," His dad begins. "James says you're only around for a little while?"

"Yeah, Dad's fixing up a Charger the next town over." The knife isn't real silver. "He's gonna be another couple weeks, Uncle Bobby's sending up parts."

"Where are you from?"

"Lawrence, but I haven't been in a while."

"Are your parents... divorced?"

Dean shook his head, repeating the same lie he's told himself his whole life. "Our house had a fire when I was four. Dad kinda... dropped everything after that."

His mom gasped. "Goodness, how did it happen?"

The meat tasted normal. Normal amount of salt. "Faulty wiring in one of Sammy's nightlights."

"Have you... stayed anywhere long after that?" Holy water beside a crucifix. 

"We stay at Uncle Daniel's in May if we're around Colorado."

"It's nice your Dad has brothers," she said, awkwardly. 

"They're mostly Dad's old friends from the Marines or hunting buddies," he shrugged. "Only family I know of is my Mom's uncle who paid for the funeral."

"Does your father know about, _you_?" She asked, with a special kind of intention.

Dean scoffed. "My dad tore me a new one when I wanted to watch something less manly than _Die Hard_. I think he's a while out from accepting someone who isn't just into girls."

"Oh, you poor thing," she looked... _sad_ somehow.

"My dad has a great job. I go hunting with him sometimes. It's honestly not bad."

"But, the motels--"

"It's fine, okay?" Dean snapped. "I'm fine, we're all fine. It'll go back to normal one day. Everybody has their own way of living, and this is ours." Unlike Sam, Dean knew better than to just spill the beans about the family business. He took a deep breath. "Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Smith."

The rest of the dinner passed without much comment, and Jimmy offered to drive Dean home. 

Sam was already asleep when they got back, so Dean got some beers out of the fridge and they sat on the curb. "Jesus, Jimmy, I'm sorry about how I acted back there."

"No, it's fine. My parents just ask some prodding questions."

"I hate when people just... assume my life sucks _after_ I censor myself. You know, just because I lost my white picket fence when I could barely talk doesn't mean I can't have a normal life. I take care of Sam just fine."

"Have you ever considered... that it's not your job to take care of him?"

"Who else is there to protect him? From the monsters, from Dad?" _shit_. He should've shut his mouth.

"Monsters? What is your life like _before_ you censor yourself?"

"My mom _did_ die in a fire when I was four. And then Dad got really into the occult." he gestured to his amulet and rings. "Turns out it's all real. Ghosts, demons, all of it."

"So, that means what my parents believe in God and angels-"

"Bupkiss. Never a hunter who could prove angels exist. Only the shitty things do. Vampires. Dad's out hunting a shapeshifter right now."

Jimmy rolled up one of Dean's sleeves to where there were fading bruises. "So this-"

"I thought you didn't see it."

"I've been seeing you shirtless daily for three weeks, Dean. I had to see it."

Dean resorted to the traditional lie he told hunters. "Werewolves." Werewolves don't exist. He rolled the sleeve back down. 

"Is this why... you don't stay anywhere?" He rubbed Dean's back, and he doesn't know what happened, but he just started melting into Jimmy's touch.

"I've been enlisted in this _stupid_ quest for vengeance to find whatever killed my mom. Dad knows it's gonna kill him. Dad knows it'll probably kill me too. And I... I know this isn't normal, that this isn't right. Who gives a ten year old a _gun_ to sleep with under his pillow?"

"So, what's wrong?"

"If I question him, if I get away, what happens to me, all that gets put on Sammy's shoulders." Dean has never had his tears kissed away before. 

"It's fine. You don't have to deal with my parents again. And if it's what you want, we never have to talk about all this again. Until your dad comes back from his hunt, you can be normal, okay?"

Dean nodded, throat too closed up to form words.

* * *

It's another three weeks before Dad comes back, and without any notice in the middle of the night, they have to pack their stuff. There's no opportunity for a goodbye note to Jimmy. Or the baseball team he ended up joining. _He hates me_ is all he can think about.


End file.
